Hen's tail feathers fell out - just molting I think?

[HeidiGretchen]

I'm fairly certain this is just molting, but figured I'd ask my favorite more experienced chicken people.

My 14ish month old bantam hen had ALL of her tail feathers fall out. Not picking pr plucking. Just fell out. One of my kids was holding her and gently petting her and the last 5 feathers just dropped. Now, there are a TON of her white feathers all around the coop and yard, but other than the noticeable loss of tail feathers, she looks full and fluffy. She hasn't laid an egg since mid March when she went broody the first time. We let her sit on some eggs and hatch them. She did well, but did not return to egg laying. She went broody again about 2 weeks ago, but this time we broke her by carrying her off her nest and out into the yard repeatedly until she got over her broodiness, which only took us 2 - 3 days. From brooding for a week or so in 100+ temps, her comb and legs were a little pale, but we were giving all the chickens electrolytes, and adding "Kickin' Chicken" to their feed. They also have free choice oyster shell, get scratch grains, and we give them some fruits and vegetables when we have scraps, as well as meat and egg, again as we have scraps. They roam a large yard and eat lots of bugs, with crickets being plentiful right now. Oh, and we did just de-worm the flock as a precaution because we had a hen die several weeks ago from an undetermined cause.

Long story short, she never molted when all her hatch mates molted previously, and didn't molt after her first brooding period, so my feeling is this is just her molting and hopefully she'll return to egg laying soon. Her comb has gotten nice and red since breaking her broodiness, and her legs (although not as yellow as her sister) are improving in color as well. She's eating and running around the yard fine. But, since I did research through the forums and saw suggestions about vitamins and other potential causes, I figured no harm in asking.

Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

Pictures of her will verify your suspicions. If she is only 14 months old she wouldn't have had an adult molt last year. And with the stress from the heat and raising a brood then going broody again, yeah, I think she could very well be molting. I have a hen who started molting at the beginning of July. She is going VERY slowly as opposed to last year when she started during the fall like everyone else did. It's undoubtedly due to the heat.

 

[HeidiGretchen]

Pictures of her will verify your suspicions. If she is only 14 months old she wouldn't have had an adult molt last year. And with the stress from the heat and raising a brood then going broody again, yeah, I think she could very well be molting. I have a hen who started molting at the beginning of July. She is going VERY slowly as opposed to last year when she started during the fall like everyone else did. It's undoubtedly due to the heat.

Thanks! I'm attaching some pics so you can see her feathers, comb and legs. Her comb had been very pale, but looks much better now that she's not trying to sit on a nest in this heat and we're finally down into the 90s. Her legs are still not as yellow as her "sister," but have improved.